Symphony Orchestra

This lifestyle is not for every musician. — A symphony orchestra musician is often presented as one of the default career options for music students. If you don’t get into a symphony right away, then you’ll teach and take freelance gigs until you win an audition. Generally, university professors tell their students to take every audition that comes…

What an adventure! — If I were to summarize it in one word, I’d say intense. Who knew that diving headfirst into a “regular” schedule after over a year of doing nothing would be so intense. I will admit, it was tough. If you've been reading my posts in the past nine months, then you’ll know that going back to “normal” was hard for me, and…

“Music is spiritual. The music business is not.” — Claudio Monteverdi When the Coronavirus pandemic hit the world, not only did over a million of people succumb to the virus — the economy in almost every sector suffered. The music industry had been hit particularly hard. I’d been studying double…

Time to open the can of worms of orchestral politics. — Who’s the boss of me? When my non-musical boyfriend asked me if I consider the conductor of my orchestra to be my boss or supervisor, I thought it was an interesting question. Certainly, for a youth or school orchestra, the conductor has full authority over the personnel, string seating, rehearsal schedule, repertoire, use of the…

Are we lazy, complacent individuals with no original thought? — I beg your pardon. As a symphony musician, I find it somewhat offensive when I’m told that I have no creativity or original thought because I responded well to traditional music education, and therefore, got a traditional music job. Many freelancers look down on us symphony musicians because we simply show up, play our…